


lifelines

by quibblr



Series: stars chase the sun [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Fix-It, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Not Beta Read, POV Tony Stark, Tony Stark Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 01:46:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12948636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quibblr/pseuds/quibblr
Summary: Left behind in Siberia, Tony Stark waits for rescue.





	lifelines

**Author's Note:**

> title from Various Storms & Saints by Florence + the Machine

The arc reactor had saved his life. From a weapon that he had designed, that had been sold through his own easily bought neglect. His brilliance had been his destruction, and his salvation.

Tony had mixed feelings about it, especially when it had been embedded four inches into his chest.

Deciding to have surgery had been probably the most difficult thing he had ever done. The anticipation, the knowledge that there was a chance, however small, that he might not survive it, had been daunting.

But he had done it. For Pepper, sure, but mostly for himself. He knew, ever since Obie had ripped it out of his body, how vulnerable it made him. His biggest weakness, a bright light shining for all to see.

Laying in a non functioning Iron Man suit, his arc reactor destroyed, Tony had to admit to himself that he had underestimated that particular danger. Without the surgery, he would be dead.

A part of him, one that he wasn’t quite ready or willing to listen to, told him that Rogers wouldn’t have gone for the reactor if it was still in his body. He told that part of him to shut up.

Tony Stark was done defending Captain America.

Uselessly, he tried to move, but there was no point. There were manual release points on the armor, but those were meant more for emergencies, or if parts of the armor were damaged. Tony hadn’t anticipated having the reactor completely destroyed.

It might have been a bigger blind spot than he had realized.

Then next suit was going to have back up power. And maybe a back up to the back up, just to cover all his bases. Maybe a reinforced reactor? Something to prevent this. Anything. Tony tried to ignore the panic slowly growing in the back of his mind. Immobilized, alone and in the dark. There were no good memories waiting for him here.

At least Friday knew where he was. She would have signaled for help as soon as he went offline. There wouldn’t be much waiting around.

His head jerked, the only part of him he could really move. There were footsteps in the bunker.

No matter that help was coming, they wouldn’t be here yet.

Tony’s heart races, and he tried to stay calm, but he knew that there wasn’t anything he could do to defend himself against a hostile.

A familiar figure slowly made it’s way towards him, and Tony clenched his teeth, fighting between fear and rage.

“Back to finish the job, Barnes?” he asked bitterly. “Or did you just want to complete the set? All three Starks.”

The assassin looked away at that, shame on his face. _Good_ , Tony though viciously. He should be ashamed.

“No.”

“No? What do you want? Where’s Rogers?” Tony snapped.

Barnes was quiet for a long moment. He glanced at Tony, then away.

“He left. Wanted me to leave, too.”

“So why didn’t you?” Tony asked, suddenly exhausted. If someone were to ask him an hour ago who would come back for him, he sure has hell wouldn’t have picked Barnes over Rogers. Over Captain America. His friend.

But here they were.

Barnes was quiet for a long moment.

“Steve is my friend. But I don’t think he did the right thing here. Not keeping how your parents… what I did from you. And not leaving you here. So tell me, what do you need me to do?”

With time to cool off, Tony knew better than to blame Barnes for his parents murder. Intellectually, at least. Emotionally, it would take a while to get there. But he could keep from fighting the guy. And he could appreciate coming back for him.

Tony looked at him, meeting his eyes, and seeing nothing but sincerity. Ah, hell. What did he have to lose?

“Can you get me out of this thing?

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't get the idea of a sequel to _sorrow that you keep_ out of my head, so here we are.  
>  I've been thinking about expanding this into a multi chaptered work, dealing with the events post Civil War. Still in the plotting stages, but hopefully something will come of it.


End file.
